Our Philosophy

Our Philosophy

Goals

Our everyday goal as a company is to be the best we can be - to be the best that is possible. As a relatively young company, we are able to satisfy a good deal of our purchasing through Direct Trade partnerships. And we make every effort to ensure that the coffees that we buy outside of Direct Trade are Relationship Coffees, meaning that the farmer received better than the Fair Trade minimum for his coffee. We also focus our purchasing on estates that practice sustainable farming techniques. We don’t limit ourselves to sourcing Organic and Fair Trade coffees because we find both certification systems to be heavily flawed at times as well as prohibitively expensive, often adversely affecting the participating farmers.

Operation

Like most great things in life, the Forty Weight philosophy is simple: we believe in doing everything to the best of our abilities. If our abilities aren’t yielding an exceptional result, we improve upon them. We put tremendous effort into seasonally sourcing unique and exciting Relationship and Direct Trade coffees. We roast on what we consider to be the best machines in the world. And everything is roasted to order, so our coffee is only enjoyed at peak freshness.

Community

We believe in operating in an accessible and transparent fashion, making every effort to embrace not only our customer base, but also our brothers and sisters in competing cafes and roasteries. A strong community is key to pushing the limits of the industry in quality, sustainability, and beyond. Being a strong family is not only important to Specialty Coffee’s sustainable growth, but it also makes for a much more enjoyable work atmosphere. We reject the coffee-snob elitisms that is all too often associated with our industry. Simply put, it’s nice to be nice.

Our goal over the next five years will to become a 100% Direct Trade company. Taking comprehensive control of this aspect of our business will provide a level of integration, engagement and oversight that we strongly value.